Sept. 21, 1964 - If the Phillies should lose the National League pennant — and there’s no real cause for alarm as yet — it might be correct to say the flag will have been stolen from them.
For the second time in their last three games, a clean steal of home beat them tonight before 20,067 at Connie Mack Stadium.
This time it was rookie Chico Ruiz (right) who stole home with two out in the sixth, as the Cincinnati Reds won, 1-0, and moved into undisputed possession of second place in the standings.
On Saturday night, the Dodgers’ Willie Davis stole home in the 16th inning to beat the Phils, and the unusual play came right back to down them again as they opened their final homestand of the season.
That run and the superb clutch pitching of an old Phillies’ nemesis, John Tsitouris, spelled the difference in the game which was a mound duel for almost seven innings between the 28-year-old Red hurler and the Phillies’ Art Mahaffey.
The defeat cut the Phillies’ first-place margin over the Reds to 5½ games, while the idle St. Louis Cardinals are six lengths back in third place.
Ruiz, a baserunning whiz in the minors who stole 50 times last season in San Diego, picked an unusual spot to come home with the winning run. He reached first on a single to right and sprinted around to third on Vada Pinson’s single into short right. Pinson gambled and lost — he raced around first and charged for second but was nipped for the second out as shortstop Ruben Amaro took right fielder Johnny Callison’s throw and made a tumbling tag.
That made it two out and brought cleanup slugger Frank Robinson to the plate. On Mahaffey’s first pitch, Robinson swung and missed.
Then Ruiz made his move. Mahaffey was concentrating so hard on getting the dangerous Robinson that he didn’t see the runner break until he was halfway home. When he realized what was happening, Art hurried his motion. The result was a pitch so wide that catcher Clay Dalrymple had no chance to stop it, and Ruiz came in standing up.
“It just came to my mind,” Ruiz said afterward. “In this game, you do or you don’t.”
Did Ruiz have a big enough jump to make it on a good pitch?
“No comment,” replied Chico, grinning from ear to ear.
“The ball went by me before he reached the plate,” said Robinson, Cincinnati’s RBI leader who could not remember anybody ever before trying to steal home while he was batting. “I think he would have been out.”
Ruiz got the inspiration when he saw Mahaffey take a long windup on the first delivery to Robinson.
“With a hitter like him at the plate, you better make sure you make it, or you get hell,” said Chico.
“Sure, he surprised me when he started coming,” said Robinson. “I guess he surprised all of us.”
Among the startled onlookers was Dick Sisler, the acting manager of the Reds and the man whose 10th-inning homer won the 1950 pennant for the Phillies.
“He surprised everyone in the ballpark, including me,” said Dick. “I saw him and said, ‘Holy smoke! What’s he doing?’ I couldn’t call for it with the big man up there, but it worked. We got by with it. If the pitch is over, though — even at the hitter — he’s out. He goes crazy on the bases sometimes.”
Said Phillies manager Gene Mauch: “That play would get you a trip back to San Diego if you’re ever thrown out.”
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